G2 Esports' CS2 coach sAw Saka shared his emotions after the defeat to Team Spirit and the team's elimination from the LAN tournament PGL Astana 2026 in a post-match interview.
A few things changed for us, and it was not easy to train with young players because there were a lot of tournaments. But before this championship, we understood that the team was not yet in perfect shape. We knew we were using this tournament also for learning, but we still wanted to show a good result. Of course, a positive moment was that we were able to play on stage and enter the arena. We learned a lot during the matches against different teams – first against MOUZ, then against The MongolZ, and in the last game. These encounters gave us a lot of experience. Today against Spirit, we were a bit short. Perhaps there were situations where we could have pushed through and gone to overtime, but on Dust2, it turned out to be insufficient. I think, if we look at it objectively, they were simply stronger as a team.
On May 15, 2026, Team Spirit defeated G2 Esports in the quarterfinals of the PGL Astana 2026 tournament. The confrontation ended with a score of 2:0 in favor of the Russian team (13:6 on Dust2 and 13:11 on Ancient). Due to this defeat, G2 Esports exited the championship, finishing in 5-8 place and earning $40,000 from the total prize pool.
Earlier, it became known that thanks to this victory, Team Spirit advanced to the semifinals of PGL Astana 2026, where they will meet MOUZ.
The LAN tournament PGL Astana 2026 is taking place from May 9 to May 17, 2026, in Astana, Kazakhstan. Teams are competing for a prize pool of $1.6 million. The decisive matches are hosted by the "Barys Arena." The tournament winner will take home the main trophy on May 17.